Peoria Sectional captures essence of March Madness

Monday

Mar 10, 2014 at 6:14 PM

Lonnie SchwindenhammerOF THE JOURNAL STAR

As far as the postseason for Class 3A boys basketball in the Peoria area, March Madness already has been nuts.

The Peoria Sectional, at Bradley University’s Renaissance Coliseum, gets underway with Notre Dame (19-12) and Dunlap (20-12) playing in the first semifinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Morton (16-14) will face Dixon (23-6) in the Wednesday semifinal, with the winners playing for the title on Friday.

ND and Morton won regionals as No. 4 seeds. Dunlap and Dixon were No. 2s.

None of the other three downstate sectionals that were seeded at the regional level includes a No. 4. All have at least three teams that advanced as No. 1s.

The Peoria field also does not include a conference champion.

Morton and Dunlap tied for third in the Mid-Illini, Notre Dame finished third in the Mid-State 6, Dixon was second in the Northern Illinois Big 12-West.

And, the last time Peoria public schools Central, Manual and Richwoods were each eliminated in regional play was 1973.

IRISH EYES: Notre Dame lost twice to Richwoods in the Mid-State 6, including 77-44 in late February.

“That was a debacle and we got what we deserved that night,” ND coach Tom Lacher said. “We reminded the kids that this is the postseason — and whatever already happened — none of that matters now.

ND led all the way in a 70-46 win over the Knights for a regional title.

WE SHALL OVERCOME: Morton overcame a potentially game-changing series of events in its regional-title game against Manual.

Leading 38-36 with possession following a timeout with 1:42 left in overtime, officials issued a technical against the Potters for having six players on the floor.

Manual converted the ensuing free throws and possession into four points to take a 40-38 lead.

Morton went on to win, 44-43.

“We didn’t communicate well enough coming out of the time out and that’s my fault,” Morton coach Jarrett Brown said. “I’m relieved we won. I would hate for any of our kids to have to live with that as a reason we lost.”

SOARING: Dunlap enters sectional play on a six-game win streak and with eight wins in its last 11 games.

“Everything we’ve done this season has been with the mind-set that we want to be playing our best ball down the stretch,” coach Jeff Barker said.

Dunlap’s three losses over the last 11, all true road games, were by six total points.

The Eagles have beaten opponents by an average of 17.2 points during their six-game win streak.

TURNAROUNDS: The Wednesday semifinal will be between teams that combined to win nine games last season. Morton was 6-23. Dixon was 3-25.

RIVALRY RENEWED: Tuesday’s semi between Notre Dame and Dunlap, located about 11 miles apart, will be their first meeting since ND’s 73-41 win in a 2011 regional opener. ND also had a 7-1 regular-seasson record against Dunlap over the span of an eight-year nonconference series that also ended in 2011.

WAY BACK WHEN: Dunlap has 20 victories for the first time since 1992, when coach Randy Bouris and the Eagles finished 21-6 after winning a Class A regional title before an overtime loss to Sherrard in a sectional semifinal.

Greg Crider was a guard and senior captain on that Dunlap team. He’s now in his second year as athletics director at Dunlap.

FIRST TITLE: ND’s regional title is Lacher’s first in six seasons as a head coach.

Lacher is in his third season as head coach at ND. He was head coach at Elmwood for three seasons from 2004-07.

Dunlap’s regional title is Barker’s first in six total seasons as head coach. He’s in the third season of his second stint as coach of the Eagles. He also was head coach from 1996-99.

SECOND TITLE: Morton’s regional title is the second in four seasons under Brown. In his first season, in 2010-11, the Potters won the Lincoln Regional and Decatur Sectional before losing to Centralia in the Springfield Supersectional.

SECTIONAL TICKETS: All sectional tickets are $5 and may be purchased from the Renaissance box office during normal business hours and at the door.

SUPER FOE: The winner of the Peoria Sectional will face the Hampshire Sectional champ in the DeKalb Super on March 18.

Rockford Lutheran and Maple Park Kaneland will play in one semifinal at Hampshire. Woodstock Marian and Sycamore will meet in the other.

Lonnie Schwindenhammer can be reached at 686-3214 or lschwindenhammer@pjstar.com.